Answers to Second Harvest Food Bank Elect To End Hunger Survey 

 Elect To End Hunger Survey - Part 1 

Please limit your answer to 200 words.

If elected, I intend to work closely with advocates to make ending hunger in our community a priority for the community at large and take a leadership role on this issue. I will work to ensure that efforts by city government to prevent hunger are carefully co-ordinated with other jurisdictions (such as school districts) and the private/non-profit sector. I will support funding for hunger programs and take stands on behalf of legislation that furthers the cause of ending hunger. The core of the progressive agenda is putting people first, and putting a priority on funding for programs that assist the poor and disenfranchised.

I will also work to ensure that the root causes of hunger - unaffordable housing and low paying jobs, are addressed. People should not be forced to choose between paying the rent, and paying for food. Economic development in Santa Cruz should be expanded beyond downtown; we should take better advantage of our waterfront and other commercial districts. There are also cost-effective vehicles to prevent homelessness and the economic devastation it causes, such as fully funding the Community Action Board's emergency rental assistance vouchers, which should be supported.

 Elect to End Hunger Survey - Part 2 

1. Food stamps: End the monthly report currently required of all recipients (and replacing it with a quarterly or semi-annual report). Support
2. Food stamps: Allow food stamp participants to own a car worth more than $4650 (currently, those with a more valuable car aren't able to receive help). Support (1)
3. Food stamps: Allow people in treatment after a felony drug conviction to receive food stamps (currently all former drug felons are disqualified for life). Support (2)
4. School breakfast: Require schools that are low-income and low performing academically to use some of their state school-improvement funds to serve breakfast to students (currently this is optional). Support
5. Food banks: Provide tax incentives to the food industry to encourage new donations to emergency food providers. Support
6. Food banks: Provide $15 million in new state funding to the approximately 40 food banks statewide to assist with collecting, storing, and distributing donated food. Support

1 - A reliable vehicle is key to getting and keeping a decent job. Forcing people to firesale their car and buy a replacement, incurring transaction costs both ways, is counter-productive to the end goal of re-establishing self-sufficiency. I also think the base value should be raised. If the person owns a car more valuable than the base (say $8000), then the state should be able to place a lien on the vehicle to assure recovery of some portion of the value of the food stamps (assuming the bureaucracy required is limited) in case the vehicle is sold.

2 - I don't believe anyone should be deprived of food stamps or other basic assistance, regardless of whether or not they are a felon - it is counter-productive to the goal of self-sufficiency; and further, at a basic moral level, if a person is hungry, they are hungry - why punish them further once they've served their time? Policies of this sort only make it more difficult for an ex-felon to stay clean.

Name: Thomas Leavitt
Office Seeking: Santa Cruz City Council

Signature: Thomas Van Ness Leavitt
Date: 9/30/2002